Monday 3 Oct 2016 5:05 p.m.
Two rare native birds have been
spotted on a West Coast dairy farm - the first such sighting in 37 years - and
the Department of Conservation (DoC) is asking the public to keep an eye out
for them.
Kaki ranger Liz Brown says this
is the first sighting of kaki in the Arahura Valley since records began in
1979. Kaki are critically endangered, with less than 100 birds in the wild.
"It's pretty neat to see
where they ended up. After they disappeared, we thought the worst.
We supplementary feed newly released birds for around six weeks post release,
but happily, these two sussed out how to fend for themselves without our
help," she says.
DoC staff identified the birds by
their leg bands. They were part of the department's breeding programme in
Twizel, a partnership with the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust in
Christchurch. The pair hatched during the 2014/2015 summer and were released in
early January.
As part of the breeding
programme, eggs are collected from both captive and wild pairs where they're
artificially incubated and chicks are hand-reared for release into the wild.
Kaki have been intensively
managed since 1981, when their population declined to a low of just 23 birds.
Although the sex of the birds is
unknown, it is possible they may be a breeding pair.
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